Page 42 of Wolf Bonded (Rejected Moons 2)

“You haven’t,” Milo tells me.

Then he turns to Wilder. “We haven’t,” he says. “And I thought elemental magic was supposed to be dangerous.”

“You weren’t complaining when it saved you from Emlyn’s old packmates,” Wilder points out. “When I was able to open up that crack in the Earth that swallowed her alpha mate.”

“I’m notcomplainingnow,” Milo says. “I’m just surprised. I haven’t been formally trained. You know that. I don’t know what’s normal and what isn’t. Maybe elemental magic is something everyone learns.”

“Well, no, it isn’t,” Wilder says. “To be honest, it’s mostly something I’ve been experimenting with. Regine would have hated it if she had known, of course.”

“So itisdangerous,” Milo says.

“I mean, alittle. All magic is dangerous if you take it too far,” Wilder says. “But we’re not going to be painting blood sigils. We’re not going to be trying to summon a typhoon. We’re going to dolittlethings.”

“I want to try,” I say. Every time Milo brings us out here to try our hand at magic, I get excited. I love the way it feels when the power of the moon courses through my body. I love focusing my mental energy on something and seeing it actually happen in the world around me.

And elemental magic is particularly exciting because it’s what freed me from Victor. I would still be feeling the terrible heat pulling me inexorably toward the alpha mate who wanted to kill me if it hadn’t been for Wilder’s earthquake.

“The thing about elemental magic,” Wilder says, “is that itcanget away from you pretty easily because the elements of nature are so powerful. For example, when I used magic to open the padlock on Giuseppe’s door, there wasn’t very much that could have gotten out of control. I was just moving a piece of steel. But when I caused that earthquake to happen…well, there could easily have been a chain reaction there. Shaking the Earth in one place could have caused movement somewhere else. It’s important to be very aware of every aspect of what you’re doing the whole time, so you can keep it under your control.”

I glance at Milo. He looks a bit concerned, but he doesn’t say anything.

“You’re sure it’s safe?” I ask Wilder.

“It’srisky,” Wilder says. “I’m not going to lie to you. But we can control it. I’ve been doing it behind Regine’s back for years.”

I nod.

“Besides,” he says, “you’re pretty green. I don’t think we have to worry about you pulling a Lord Enorio.”

“What does that mean?” Milo interjects.

“Well—Lord Enorio specializes in elemental magic.”

“Okay, no, this is a bad idea,” Milo says. “This is stupid. We’re not doing this.”

“I’m going to try it, Milo,” I say.

“Are you crazy?”

“Lord Enorio was a power-hungry madman,” Wilder says. “What he did, he did on purpose. He did it because he wanted to hurt the world for the sake of his own power. He thought he was more important than the lives of anyone else. Wherever he is now, he still thinks that.”

“Wherever he is?” I ask. “He’s not in the city?”

“No. He left after the Reversal. I don’t know where he went.”

“Good riddance to him,” Milo says.

“But we don’t think that,” Wilder says. “We know that the elements are something we work in tandem with and draw power from. Not something we try to control.” He points to the loose dirt in front of us. “We can’t master the Earth any more than we could master the moon. But we can be strengthened by it.”

He closes his eyes and lifts a hand.

Some of the dirt whirls into a little funnel, a tiny tornado at our feet.

I’m enchanted.

Hesitantly, Milo raises a hand as well, moving it slowly back and forth over a patch of dirt.

Nothing happens.

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